Key moments emerge in tracking of missing Malaysia Airlines plane

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Flight MH370: What went wrong?

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Story highlights

The Malaysian government has not said when or if plane was reprogrammed

A 1:07 a.m. transmission showed a "normal routing all the way to Beijing"

Co-pilot believed to have checked in by radio, ending with "All right, good night"

Two communication systems stopped transmitting shortly after takeoff

New details provide a clearer chronology about what might have happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 between its takeoff and its last known spotting seven hours later.

Here's how experts and officials have reconstructed key moments of the flight, which disappeared March 8 with 239 people aboard.

12:41 a.m.: Takeoff

All tracking systems are working as the Boeing 777-200ER takes off from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, headed for Beijing.

1:07 a.m.: ACARS sends communication

One of the plane's communication systems sends what turns out to be its last transmission, according to Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya.

"It showed nothing unusual. The 1:07 a.m. transmission showed a normal routing all the way to Beijing," according to a statement from Malaysia's Ministry of Transport.

The search for MH370 48 photos

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Relatives of passengers from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 console each other outside the Malaysia Airlines office in Subang, Malaysia, on Thursday, February 12. Protesters demanded that the airline withdraw the statement made in January that all the passengers aboard the plane are dead. The plane, which disappeared on March 8, has not been found.

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A policewoman watches a couple whose son was on board the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 cry outside the airline's office building in Beijing after officials refused to meet with them on June 11, 2014. The search for the missing plane has been ongoing since early 2014.

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Members of the media scramble to speak with Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director general of Malaysia's Civil Aviation Department, at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 27, 2014. Data from communications between satellites and missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was released the day before, more than two months after relatives of passengers say they requested that it be made public.

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Operators aboard the Australian ship Ocean Shield move Bluefin-21, the U.S. Navy's autonomous underwater vehicle, into position to search for the jet on April 14, 2014.

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A member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force looks out of a window while searching for debris off the coast of western Australia on April 13, 2014.

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The Echo moves through the waters of the southern Indian Ocean on April 12, 2014.

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A Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion, on a mission to drop sonar buoys to assist in the search, flies past the Australian vessel Ocean Shield on April 9, 2014.

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A relative of a missing passenger cries at a vigil in Beijing on April 8, 2014.

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Australian Defense Force divers scan the water for debris in the southern Indian Ocean on April 7, 2014.

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A towed pinger locator is readied to be deployed off the deck of the Australian vessel Ocean Shield on April 7, 2014.

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A member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force looks at a flare in the Indian Ocean during search operations on April 4, 2014.

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A member of the Japanese coast guard points to a flight position data screen while searching for debris from the missing jet on April 1, 2014.

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On March 30, 2014, a woman in Kuala Lumpur prepares for an event in honor of those aboard Flight 370.

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A Royal New Zealand Air Force member launches a GPS marker buoy over the southern Indian Ocean on March 29, 2014.

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The sole representative for the families of Flight 370 passengers leaves a conference at a Beijing hotel on March 28, 2014, after other relatives left en masse to protest the Malaysian government's response to their questions.

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A member of the Royal Australian Air Force is silhouetted against the southern Indian Ocean during the search for the missing jet on March 27, 2014.

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Flight Lt. Jayson Nichols looks at a map aboard a Royal Australian Air Force aircraft during a search on March 27, 2014.

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People in Kuala Lumpur light candles during a ceremony held for the missing flight's passengers on March 27, 2014.

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Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, delivers a statement about the flight on March 24, 2014. Razak's announcement came after the airline sent a text message to relatives saying it "deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH 370 has been lost and that none of those onboard survived."

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Grieving relatives of missing passengers leave a hotel in Beijing on March 24, 2014.

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Ground crew members wave to a Japanese Maritime Defense Force patrol plane as it leaves the Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Subang, Malaysia, on March 23, 2014. The plane was heading to Australia to join a search-and-rescue operation.

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A passenger views a weather map in the departures terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 22, 2014.

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A Chinese satellite captured this image, released on March 22, 2014, of a floating object in the Indian Ocean, according to China's State Administration of Science. It is a possible lead in the search for the missing plane. Surveillance planes are looking for two objects spotted by satellite imagery in remote, treacherous waters more than 1,400 miles from the west coast of Australia.

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Satellite imagery provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority on March 20, 2014, shows debris in the southern Indian Ocean that could be from Flight 370. The announcement by Australian officials that they had spotted something raised hopes of a breakthrough in the frustrating search.

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Another satellite shot provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority shows possible debris from the flight.

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A distraught relative of a missing passenger breaks down while talking to reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 19, 2014.

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On March 18, 2014, a relative of a missing passenger tells reporters in Beijing about a hunger strike to protest authorities' handling of information about the missing jet.

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U.S. Navy crew members assist in search-and-rescue operations in the Indian Ocean on March 16, 2014.

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Members of the Chinese navy continue search operations on March 13, 2014. The search area for Flight 370 has grown wider. After starting in the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, the plane's last confirmed location, efforts are expanding west into the Indian Ocean.

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A Vietnamese military official looks out an aircraft window during search operations March 13, 2014.

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Malaysian air force members look for debris near Kuala Lumpur on March 13, 2014.

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Relatives of missing passengers wait for the latest news at a hotel in Beijing on March 12, 2014.

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Indonesian air force officers in Medan, Indonesia, examine a map of the Strait of Malacca on March 12, 2014.

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A member of the Vietnamese air force checks a map while searching for the missing plane on March 11, 2014.

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Vietnam air force Col. Le Huu Hanh is reflected on the navigation control panel of a plane that is part of the search operation over the South China Sea on March 10, 2014.

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A Vietnamese air force plane found traces of oil that authorities had suspected to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, the Vietnamese government online newspaper reported on March 8, 2014. However, a sample from the slick showed it was bunker oil, typically used to power large cargo ships, Malaysia's state news agency, Bernama, reported on March 10, 2014.

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A U.S. Navy Seahawk helicopter lands aboard the USS Pinckney to change crews on March 9, 2014, before returning to search for the missing plane in the Gulf of Thailand.

Italian tourist Luigi Maraldi, who reported his passport stolen in August, shows his current passport during a news conference at a police station in Phuket island, Thailand, on March 9, 2014. Iranians Pouri Nourmohammadi and Delavar Seyed Mohammad Reza were identified by Interpol as the two men who used stolen passports to board the flight. But there's no evidence to suggest either was connected to any terrorist organizations, according to Malaysian investigators. Malaysian police believe Nourmohammadi was trying to emigrate to Germany using the stolen Austrian passport.

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Vietnamese air force crew stand in front of a plane at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City on March 9, 2014, before heading out to the area between Vietnam and Malaysia where the airliner vanished.

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Buddhist monks at Kuala Lumpur International Airport offer a special prayer for the missing passengers on March 9, 2014.

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The Chinese navy warship Jinggangshan prepares to leave Zhanjiang Port early on March 9, 2014, to assist in search-and-rescue operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight. The Jinggangshan, an amphibious landing ship, is loaded with lifesaving equipment, underwater detection devices and supplies of oil, water and food.

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Members of a Chinese emergency response team board a rescue vessel at the port of Sanya in China's Hainan province on March 9, 2014. The vessel is carrying 12 divers and will rendezvous with another rescue vessel on its way to the area where contact was lost with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

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The rescue vessel sets out from Sanya in the South China Sea on March 9, 2014.

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Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, arrives to meet family members of missing passengers at the reception center at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8, 2014.

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A relative of two missing passengers reacts at their home in Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014.

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The Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System is the onboard computer that collects information -- a lot of it -- about aircraft and pilot performance. It's akin to computers in automobiles that track oil levels and engine performance.

Aboard aircraft, ACARS computers measure thousands of data points and send the information via satellite to the airline, the engine manufacturer and other authorized parties, according to CNN aviation and airline correspondent Richard Quest.

The information is useful for operations, maintenance, scheduling and performance purposes, Quest said.

1:19 a.m.:Voice check-in

Someone in the cockpit makes a voice check-in with air traffic controllers as the plane is apparently leaving Malaysian airspace and entering Vietnamese airspace. Initial investigations indicate it was the co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, according to Malaysia Airlines officials.

"All right, good night" were the final words from the cockpit, said Zulazri Mohd Ahnuar, a Malaysian civil aviation officer.

The phrase "good night" is the radio parlance used by pilots when executing a handover from one airspace to another, Quest said.

"That is normal. That happens a gazillion times," Quest said. " 'All right, good night' is a pleasantry at the end of radio communication."

It remains unclear, however, whether Vietnamese air traffic controllers had any contact with the plane during the handoff, Quest said.

1:21 a.m.:Transponder off

The plane's transponder stops communicating at 1:21 a.m., said Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director of the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation.

A transponder sends electronic messages from the plane: "squawks" to radar systems about the flight number, altitude, speed and heading.

This is enormously useful information to air traffic controllers who are looking at scores of blips on their screens, and each blip is a plane emitting identifying information, thanks to the transponder.

With the transponder off, "now the plane is flying blind from the ground's point of view," Quest said. "If there is radar there, the radar will see a blip, but they won't know who it is, where they are going. They will just now know it's there."

That's because the transponder isn't sending identifying information about the plane. Shutting off the transponder is a simple turn of a switch in the cockpit, Quest said.

"The air traffic controller should notice. I suppose it would cause alarm. ... (The information from) a plane that you're monitoring all of a sudden disappears," Quest said.

1:22 a.m.:Plane disappears from Thai military radar

Thai military radar is tracking the plane's signal, but it disappears at 1:22 a.m., a Royal Thai Air Force spokesman told CNN.

1:28 a.m.:Thai radar picks up unknown aircraft

The Thai radar station in southern Surathani province picks up an unknown aircraft flying in a direction opposite to what Flight 370 had been traveling, a Royal Thai Air Force spokesman told CNN.

1:21 a.m.-1:28 a.m.: Plane appears to change course

The plane appears to have changed course in this time frame. The Malaysian government has not said when or if the plane was reprogrammed to fly off course.

Again, according to the Malaysians, the last data from the ACARS at 1:07 a.m. indicated that it "showed normal routing all the way to Beijing."

About 1:30 a.m.: Civilian radar loses contact with plane

Malaysian air traffic controllers in Subang, outside Kuala Lumpur, lose contact with the plane over the Gulf of Thailand between Malaysia and Vietnam at coordinates 06 55 15 N and 103 34 43 E.

1:37 a.m.:Expected ACARS transmission doesn't happen

The ACARS was supposed to transmit a half-hour after it last did so. Therefore, it was supposed to transmit at 1:37 a.m. -- but it didn't, Yahya said,

If the flight were hijacked or a target of terrorism, cutting off ACARS would be a strategic move because the system reports to satellites anything being done to the aircraft, Quest said.

2:15 a.m.:Military radar detection

Though the Malaysian plane is not transmitting information -- by ACARS or transponder -- radar on the ground or elsewhere can still detect a plane in the air.

According to a Malaysian Air Force official, military radar tracked the plane as it passed over the small island of Pulau Perak in the Strait of Malacca.

At this point, the plane was hundreds of miles off course. In fact, it was on the other side of the Malay Peninsula.

Military radar showed that it flew in a westerly direction back over the Malay Peninsula, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Raza said. It is then believed to have either turned northwest toward the Bay of Bengal or southwest elsewhere into the Indian Ocean.

This was the last time any civilian or military radar is known to have tracked the aircraft.

The focus now is searching for the missing flight in the southern Indian Ocean, according to a U.S. official.

"The southern scenario seems more plausible," the official said.

The Malaysian military is handing over its raw radar data to U.S. and British officials, apparently setting aside concerns about any sensitive military intelligence.

Quest called this sharing of information a "huge" development in the case.

"They don't want anyone to know how good their radar is. They obviously decided that doesn't matter," he said.

"We don't know much about the Malaysian military and that has been one of the issues," Quest added. "It appears that Malaysia was providing an interpretation of the analysis -- and not the raw data. Now they are handing over the raw data."

2:40 a.m.: Malaysia Airlines says it learns plane missing from radar

Malaysian air traffic controllers told Malaysia Airlines at 2:40 a.m. that Flight 370 was missing from radar, according to the airline.

2:40-3:45 a.m.: Malaysia Airlines preliminary search

During this time, the airline "sourced every communication possible to (Flight 370) to locate its whereabouts before declaring that it had lost contact with the aircraft," the company told CNN.

"During this period of uncertainty, Malaysia Airlines needed to establish facts by contacting other air traffic controllers and aircraft flying within the same route," the company said.

3:45 a.m.: MalaysiaAirlines issues alert

Malaysia Airlines said it issued a "code red" alert that the plane was missing from radar. The airline said "code red" is when it declares that a crisis requires immediate deployment of emergency response plans. It said it took about an hour to issue the alert because it was trying to locate the plane and confirm that it was missing. To verify, it used various measures, including sending messages to the plane and awaiting a response.

6:30 a.m.:Plane should have arrived in Beijing

This was the time that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 should have landed in China's capital.

7:24 a.m.: Public announcement of disappearance

Malaysia Airlines announces the plane's disappearance on Facebook.

8:11 a.m.:Satellite 'handshakes'

Najib revealed that a satellite tracked the plane at 8:11 a.m., more than seven hours after takeoff.

Najib didn't provide details on the satellite tracking, but it appears that orbiters high above the ocean detected the plane as the satellite or satellites attempted a series of "handshakes" -- or electronic connections -- with the plane below, Quest said.

It's likely that the plane didn't complete the handshake because its communication systems were disabled, Quest said.

Nevertheless, the satellites would have been able to trace a plane flying below them and would have extended an electronic message equivalent to a hailing: "There's a plane: Hello, hello, hello? Do you have anything for us?" Quest said.

The Malaysian Prime Minister said the "raw satellite data" confirms the plane was Flight 370. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration, along with Britain's Air Accidents Investigation Branch, concur, Najib said.

"Due to the type of satellite data, we are unable to confirm the precise location of the plane when it last made contact with the satellite," Najib said.

Authorities believe the plane was in one of two flight "corridors": A northern route stretching to northern Thailand, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in Central Asia or a southern route toward Indonesia and the southern Indian Ocean.